1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to a door lever handle assembly, more particularly to a door lever handle assembly that can be adapted for mounting on both left-hand and right-hand doors in a convenient manner.
2. Description of the Related Art
A door lever handle assembly for controlling opening and closing of a door generally includes an outside lever handle mounted on an outer side of a door panel, an inside lever handle mounted on an inner side of the door panel, and a latch bolt mechanism mounted inside the door panel. When the outside lever handle of a door lever handle assembly mounted on a left-hand door is turned in a first direction to retract a latch bolt into the door panel, the inside lever handle on the other side of the door panel turns in an opposite second direction, and vice versa. The outside and inside lever handles of the door lever handle assembly would turn in reverse directions when the assembly is applied to a right-hand door. On the other hand, mechanisms for restoring the outside and inside lever handles to their original positions after operation of the outside or inside lever handle act in different directions. In view of this, manufacturers in the past had to form four structurally similar restoring mechanisms but of different specifications in order to adapt a door lever handle assembly for application to both left-hand doors and right-hand doors, which is inconvenient in terms of manufacture and assembly.
Therefore, the main object of the present invention is to provide a door lever handle assembly which can be mounted on either a left-hand door or a right-hand door and which is convenient to manufacture and assemble.
Accordingly, a door lever handle assembly of this invention is adapted to be mounted on a door panel having an outer side, an inner side, and a lateral connecting side interconnecting the outer and inner sides. The door lever handle assembly includes:
an outside lever handle unit including an outside mounting cap adapted to be mounted on the outer side of the door panel, and an outside lever handle having a coupling end coupled rotatably to the outside mounting cap;
an inside lever handle unit including an inside mounting cap adapted to be mounted on the inner side of the door panel, and an inside lever handle having a coupling end coupled rotatably to the inside mounting cap;
a latch bolt mechanism adapted to be mounted inside the door panel and including a latch bolt that is movable between an extended position, where the latch bolt is adapted to project from the connecting side of the door panel, and a retracted position, where the latch bolt is adapted to retract into the door panel, and a spindle operably coupled to the latch bolt such that axial rotation of the spindle results in movement of the latch bolt between the extended and retracted positions, the spindle having opposite ends coupled respectively and non-rotatably to the coupling ends of the outside and inside lever handles such that operation of either one of the outside and inside lever handles can result in movement of the latch bolt from the extended position to the retracted position; and
a restoring mechanism including
a force transmitting member provided on the spindle and having left and right actuating parts,
a sliding seat mounted slidably on one of the outside and inside mounting caps, and having left and right force bearing parts disposed respectively adjacent to the left and right actuating parts, and
a biasing unit for biasing the sliding seat toward the force transmitting member such that the left and right force bearing parts abut against the left and right actuating parts at the same time;
wherein operation of one of the outside and inside lever handles for moving the latch bolt from the extended position to the retracted position causes one of the left and right actuating parts to disengage the respective one of the left and right force bearing parts, and further causes the other of the left and right actuating parts to push the respective one of the left and right force bearing parts against action of the biasing unit, thereby storing a restoring force in the biasing unit.